Polk County Education
14A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • September 6, 2017
Wildfang eager for year
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
Amber Eaton moves from assistant principal at Dallas High to head principal at Lyle.
Lyle’s principal ready to lead
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Amber Eaton,
the new principal at Lyle El-
ementary School, is return-
ing to what she considers
her “roots” in her education-
al career.
For the last two years,
Eaton has been an assistant
principal at Dallas High
School, but before becoming
an administrator, she was an
elementary school teacher.
“When I stepped out on
my journey to become a
principal — that was my
goal to become a building
principal,” Eaton said. “I re-
ally wanted to return, sort of,
to my roots.”
Her detour through the
high school wasn’t the first
in her career, or what she
thought would be her career.
Eaton has a degree in psy-
chology, the field she origi-
nally wanted to pursue. After
earning her undergraduate
from Willamette University,
she took a behavioral sup-
port position at an elemen-
tary school.
“I was working with ele-
mentary students and I
loved it,” she said. “I thought
‘Huh. I think I want to be a
teacher.’”
She had already applied
to the master’s program in
psychology when she began
contemplating teaching in-
stead.
“I did a quick change and
was accepted into
Willamette’s Master of Arts
for teaching,” she said. “I
spent the time in elemen-
tary, and it was just the fit I
was looking for.”
While she considers ele-
mentary education her
home base, Eaton said her
experience at the high
school helps bring an end-
to-end perspective to her
new role.
“My last two years have
helped to bridge that under-
standing, so now I can see
where we want our students
to end up through this jour-
ney,” she said. “Last year, I
had the opportunity to do
transitionary work. ... One
week I was able to meet with
the seniors to prep for grad-
uation and meet our incom-
ing kinders, so it was really
powerful.”
She said while the age dif-
ference in the students has
to be considered, an educa-
tor’s job is essentially the
same at both levels.
“Our goal is to help them
become that most success-
ful adults that they can, and
make sure that we’re pre-
senting them with all the op-
portunities for academic,
social and emotional sup-
port,” she said.
Eaton spent her summer
dodging construction —
which will continue after
school begins — and meet-
ing the Lyle staff.
“A lot of it has been think-
ing about our mission and
vision here at Lyle and what
I can do to best support
what staff does every day,
which is working with those
kids,” she said. “I’m avail-
able, so if people want to
come in here and chat about
what we are doing at Lyle
and visit, I would love to
have that happen, too.”
Eaton said she’s excited to
take on her new challenge —
and the construction frenzy
in her building this summer
allowed for some unplanned
team building among Lyle
staff. Last week started with
no power to the building
and limited use of bath-
rooms.
“It helps us growth to-
gether as a community be-
cause it gives us things to
laugh about,” Eaton said.
“We have to make the most
of what we were given. I was
just so proud of everybody
because they really rose to
that occasion.”
MONMOUTH — Ashley
Wildfang has always known
she wanted to be a teacher.
It wasn’t until she began
mentoring them that she
realized she wanted to have
a bigger impact.
“Being a teacher, I think,
is the hardest job ever,
truly, and it’s so important,”
said Wildfang, the new
principal at Ash Creek Ele-
mentary School. “Stepping
outside the classroom to
get a different view of
what’s going on made me
feel really passionate about
looking at things from a dif-
ferent perspective.”
Wildfang has fond mem-
ories of her third- and fifth-
grade teacher, who made
students feel loved and
kept them engaged.
Fostering that engage-
ment and love for learning
in others is what keeps
Wildfang passionate about
education.
“The best thing about
teaching is when the kids
want to be at school,” she
said. “When you build a re-
lationship with kids and
they believe in them-
selves — maybe it’s when
you can help them believe
in themselves.”
Wildfang said kids can
accomplish whatever they
put their minds to.
“So often, they feel like
they can’t do things, and
they can,” she said.
Wildfang has worked a
variety of positions in dif-
ferent schools, and has col-
lected children’s books
along the way.
Different books remind
her of different students. A
stuffed Pigeon, from the
book series including,
“Don’t let the Pigeon drive
the bus,” sits on the bottom
shelf of a bookcase in her
office.
“I had a little boy last
year who I adore,” Wild-
fang said. “The only thing
that got him to read were
Pigeon books, so I
bought a lot for my of-
fice, and then he started
reading.”
In her first post as princi-
pal, Wildfang said she is im-
pressed with her staff and
teachers.
“The teachers here are
hard-working, wonderful
people, and they put rela-
tionships first,” she said.
Wildfang believes the
more connected the school
is with the community, the
better for kids.
“If we can engage our
community more, it would
be amazing for kids,” she
said.
Volunteers and parents
are always welcome.
“I want parents to con-
nect and be here,” she said.
“I want them to reach out
to teachers as things come
up and feel like they have
voices.”
The families, students
and community have al-
ready been welcoming,
Wildfang said.
“I’m excited for the year,”
she said. “I love to see all
the energy. The staff is so
positive. The community’s
so positive. I’m thrilled
about our superintendent.
I’m just ready for kids to
come. It’s going to be a
good year.”
EMILY MENTZER/ Itemizer-Observer
Ashley Wildfang is eager for students to arrive at the first day of school Tuesday.
She is the new principal at Ash Creek Elementary School.